College develops equestrian talent
Moulton College in Northamptonshire has been chosen as a centre to develop talented riders across the East Midlands, using its excellent equestrian facilities.
Five Regional Foundation Squads aiming to produce a pool of up and coming talented riders have been launched across England by the British Equestrian Foundation (BEF).
Robbie Speirs, the college’s Sports Resources Manager said: "We are thrilled to have reached an agreement with the BEF to bring this Key National Talent programme to Moulton College. It is the result of 12 months of negotiation and hard work behind the scenes that has resulted in Moulton being chosen as the exclusive training centre for the region. Work is already underway in a bid to attract national squads to the college for future training camps in the lead up to the 2012 Olympics."
The squads, which have been set up through funding from Sport England, are being co-ordinated by the BEF. They include the four Olympic disciplines and one Paralympic discipline of dressage, eventing, show jumping and para-equestrian dressage. The aim is that the squads will identify talented riders who are not currently on the BEF’s World Class Programme.
Eight riders from each of the disciplines, aged between 16 and 24 years old, will be selected for each of the five regions; North, East Midlands, West Midlands, South East - including London, and South West.
The programme, which is being developed in partnership with British Dressage, British Eventing and the British Show Jumping Association will provide selected riders with the opportunity to have access to top equestrian specialists including; coaches, physiotherapists, psychologists, vets and nutritionists via a series of clinics.
"The financial support received from Sport England is allowing this stepping stone to be put in place at regional level," said BEF Head of Regional Development, Maggie Still. “We hope that this extra support will make World Class programmes more achievable for talented performers. The idea is to develop a pool of regional talent to help support the strength of our equestrian Olympic and Paralympic squads in years to come."
Image above: Moulton College’s Equestrian Centre